


Benedicite

by heavenlyhost



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-12
Updated: 2012-05-12
Packaged: 2017-11-05 06:22:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/403343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heavenlyhost/pseuds/heavenlyhost
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean says yes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Benedicite

**Author's Note:**

> This is an older fic of mine, but I felt like posting it.

_His face when he repeats his verses hath its ancient glory, an archangel a little damaged._  
  
Dean said yes to Michael.   
  
Sam had been leaving the diner when he saw him. Dean was on his knees in the middle of the road, staring up at the sky with slumped shoulders. He had looked like a man seeking benediction.   
  
Dean had said something, and then he’d turned his head and stared straight at Sam, an apologetic smile on his face. And then the town had gone to Hell.  
  
It almost looked like a meteor. The light moved faster than anything else he’d ever seen, the same as Lucifer’s ascent to Earth, only this? This was a descent. Right before it had hit his brother, Castiel had appeared, and then they’d been outside of the town.  
  
Sam had watched the explosion, had watched blue fire consume the entire town. For days, the city screamed.  
  
Sam had tried to run forward, but Castiel had held on, much like Dean had when Jess had burned.  
  
“Let me go, Cas! He’s still in there! Dean‘s still in there!”   
  
“I can’t. I’m sorry, Sam, I can’t. He made me promise.”  
  
“He’s my _brother_!”  
  
“…Not anymore.”  
  
\--------------------------  
  
Lucifer panicked after that.   
  
Pandemics swept through towns. Fires burned down cities.   
  
The rivers went red with blood, and the skies went black with smoke.  
  
The people panicked after that.  
  
\--------------------------  
  
They found Lucifer in Detroit.   
  
He had been waiting for the three of them in a church.   
  
“My brother is out there.” Lucifer stared up at Christ, nailed to the cross, bloody and wearing a crown of thorns. When he turned, he was smiling, but it looked pained. “He was the first. But me? I was the favorite. I was the bringer of light, the _most_ glorious.”  
  
“Michael is stronger than you.”  
  
“Is he, Castiel?! I was his equal!”  
  
“He banished you to Hell. He will kill you this time.”   
  
Lucifer smiled like it was all some big joke. He was arrogant, but Castiel knew the truth. All angels were weaker than Michael. Their brother was the greatest of them all, because he did not hate, he was kind and merciful. He had _faith_ , in _all_ things. Michael did not better himself, and therefore was the best.  
   
“He will burn Dean out.” Lucifer smiled darkly and stepped closer to them. Castiel moved to stand in front of Sam, though only slightly.   
  
“You goddamned sonuvabitch!” They both tried to stop Bobby, but the old man escaped them. Sam watched in horror as his surrogate father was stabbed, watched as he fell to the floor, only for blood to pool. Sam watched Bobby die, slowly and painfully.   
  
He turned tear filled eyes on Lucifer, flinched as Castiel flew to the side, slammed against a wall of the church.   
  
Lucifer placed a hand on his shoulder, smiled sympathetically. “It’s time for you to say yes, Sam.”   
  
“No. No!”   
  
His statement contorted Lucifer’s face into one of anger, but as the church doors swept open, it contorted into shock, and Sam saw the fear there, too.  
  
When Lucifer spoke Michael‘s name, his voice was filled with awe. And Sam could tell, understood the feeling. Lucifer worshipped his brother. Lucifer knew Michael would win.  
  
When Sam turned around, he found himself staring at something that wasn’t quite his brother. There was an unearthly, alien look. His eyes too bright and his features too soft. Michael radiated peace, passion, fire, and Sam could feel the will to fight rise up. Michael’s roles made sense as Sam stared at him, watched the wings expand in a gesture that was clearly a threat, a display of power and grace that no human being had.   
  
Sam couldn’t see his brother behind the angel.   
  
Michael looked at Sam, smiled at him like Sam was his brother. “Dean has asked me to protect you.” His gaze shifted over to focus on Castiel. “And you.” When his gaze landed on Bobby’s body, he frowned, an odd look on a face of peace.   
  
“Was it worth it, Lucifer? You have wrought destruction on innocence. Hurt those who had not deserved it.” Michael stepped forward, closer to his brother, and Castiel was suddenly released. The air felt cleaner, and Sam moved to the side, out of the way of the approaching archangel.   
  
“You bowed before them, Michael. You were the _first_! You cowed yourself before this… _pathetic_ race.”  
  
Michael’s eyes narrowed, and he turned a palm out toward Lucifer. His eyes focused on the depiction of Christ.   
  
Shadows descended on the church as Lucifer moved to stand a few feet away from Michael. The unlit candles suddenly burst into flame, but the fire was blue. The fires grew outward, spreading until they had come to surround Lucifer, who looked suddenly fearful.  
  
The scream he let out as the flames engulfed him was unearthly, painful to even Castiel, who winced, but still watched as Michael stripped Lucifer of his wings, of his power as an angel. They watched as Michael made Lucifer into a mortal.   
  
When the fires dispersed, Lucifer dropped to his knees, tears in his eyes. Michael began to turn, but stopped when Lucifer shouted.  
  
“Michael! You can’t…”   
  
Michael turned suddenly, white and gold wings expanding to their fullest length. “I cannot?! You deserve it, Lucifer! For the things you have done you deserve _Hell_ and all its pains!”   
  
Lucifer let loose a sob and the tears fell as he begged. “Please, Michael… Peccavi. Deus misereatur.” _I have sinned. May God have mercy._  
  
Michael stepped forward so suddenly, his face suddenly so pained and sympathetic, that it seemed as though he’d never been angry. He reached outward, cupped his hands on Lucifer’s face, and stared down into the eyes of a pained brother. “Deo volente, fiat lux.” _God willing, let there be light._  
  
And then everything went white.  
  
\--------------------------  
  
When Sam woke up, he was in a hospital, and Castiel was sitting beside his bed. He turned his head when Sam opened his eyes, smiled and muttered something under his breath. Sam knew that is was thanks, wondered if Castiel had thanked God or Michael.   
  
“Where…” Sam cleared his throat, only to offer the seraph a thankful look when he gave Sam a cup of water.   
  
“Michael…defeated Lucifer. You have been asleep for seven days.” Sam nodded, set the cup down. His mind was other places.  
  
“Dean…?”  
  
Castiel looked away at the mention of his brother, frowned, looked hurt in an oddly human way. “Dean is alive.”   
  
\--------------------------  
  
Dean was in a coma for two weeks before he finally woke up. Dean screamed like he was on fire, and Castiel told Sam that he was. That the fires of Heaven were burning his brother up from the inside out.   
  
Sam went to the bathroom to cry, listened to Dean scream, and cried harder.  
  
It was days later that Dean’s screams died down, slowed until it was nothing more than pained noises, and sounds of discomfort.   
  
The doctors had never seen the type of damage that had been done to Dean, didn‘t know what to say. They explained what they could understand to Sam. They said that Dean’s brain was misfiring, damaged far beyond repair, and they said it would never change. They said that Dean would never get better, and that Dean would eventually die.  
  
\--------------------------  
  
They took Dean to Bobby’s empty home.  
  
Dean stayed in a wheelchair, receiving nourishment through an IV in his arm, and oxygen through a nasal cannula.   
  
They switched roles to make things easier. Sam took care of Dean in the morning while Castiel cleaned. Castiel took care of Dean in the afternoon while Sam cleaned. Sam took care of Dean at night while Castiel sat in the living room, praying to a God and brother that Sam resented.  
  
Dean was fussy, screamed and cried more than he did anything else, and it stressed Sam out. Sometimes he yelled; felt like a bastard when Dean started crying. It never got any easier, and Dean never got any better. He made no progress, and spent most of his time staring off into nothing with a look of absolute suffering on his face.  
  
Once, Sam and Castiel spent the entire day fumbling around as Dean screamed and screamed and screamed. He thrashed with the few limbs that did work, and choked on the blood that filled his throat. Dean cried in his sleep the whole night, and Sam stood over the bed watching him with a pillow in his hands and tears in his eyes.   
  
Later that night, Castiel pulled the pillow from his hands and awkwardly held Sam as he sunk to the floor and cried for the brother he had lost.  
  
\--------------------------  
  
Dean died six months after Michael had burned him up.  
  
Sam found Dean laying in bed, his body stiff and his eyes open and dull.  
  
Sam crawled into the bed beside his brother, wrapped his arms around the cold body, buried his face in the chest of his hero and mourned.   
  
It was another day before Castiel placed a hand on his shoulder and told him they had to bury Dean.  
  
\--------------------------  
  
They burned Dean’s body.   
  
Sam felt strange watching an angel cry.  
  
\--------------------------  
  
Sam died one year after his brother.   
  
Castiel closed his eyes and prayed to a father he no longer believed in and a brother he resented.   
  
“Adeste fideles, Christo et Ecclesiae. Beati pauperes spiritu. Gaudeamus igitur, anno domini, fiat lux.”  
  
 _O’ come, all ye faithful, for Christ and for the Church. Blessed are the poor in spirit. So let us rejoice, in the year of our Lord, let there be light._  
  
\--------------------------  
  
It is said that in Heaven, all things will come together.   
  
It is said that Michael will answer the prayers of all his brothers.  
  
Castiel found them in Heaven, felt happiness and a sense of peace when the two brothers welcomed him with smiles and eyes that held no pain.   
_  
In the faces of men and women, I see God._


End file.
